DC in SOS as worms wipe out Sinazongwe fields

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 13:56:46 +0000

By SANDRA MACHIMA

THE Provincial Agricultural Coordinator’s office in Southern Province must expedite the dispatch of chemicals to curb the army worm and stalk borer invasion to Sinazongwe where almost all the fields have been destroyed, says Sinazongwe district commissioner Protacial Mulenga.

Mr Mulenga said Sinazongwe district received 80 litres of the chemicals, but that the district was also affected by the army worms that had ravaged over 4,000 hectares of fields in the district.

He said the agriculture experts must ensure that they concentrated much on the areas that were worst hit because some other districts were not yet affected. Mr Mulenga said those who were given a task to dispatch the chemicals were taking long to reach the farmers, saying it was the reason why Sinazongwe had almost all the fields destroyed.

“We are appealing to agricultural experts on the ground to expedite the process, especially in the areas that are most affected like Sinazongwe.  Here in Sinazongwe it is a disaster and the available 80 litres was far too little to cover 4,000 hectares of fields,” he said.

Mr Mulenga appealed to farmers to start replanting their crops before the rain season elapsed and advised that they should go for early maturity seed if they were to harvest anything.

He said the Government had done its part by securing the chemicals, but urged the people responsible to work according to the expectation of the beneficiaries.

“Some places may not be affected much but those that are already affected should be given the priority and more agricultural experts must be sent to the most affected areas so that they could give advice to farmers,” he said.